Haywood St Congregation invites hungry to table

Dec. 25, 2013

The Haywood Street Congregation served its usual Wednesday Welcome Table meal to the homeless and spiritually hungry on Christmas Day in downtown Asheville. / John Coutlakis / jcoutlakis@citizen-times.com

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ASHEVILLE — On a day when Christmas wreaths hung on locked church doors, when most families were celebrating the holiday at home, the homeless found a warm welcome and meal at the Haywood Street Congregation.

With no city bus service, Rusty Dunbar had an hour and a half walk through frigid weather to wait in line for a warm holiday meal. Dunbar said he was a little surprised to find the doors open. “I figured everybody would be home with their family. It’s great that they’re here to cater to everybody in need.”

“My family is here, and we knew we were going to spend Christmas here. I wouldn’t really want to be anywhere else today,” volunteer Brian Hooks said. “This is my Christ community.”

Each week, the congregation, which operates as the west campus of Central United Methodist Church, opens its doors to feed the physically homeless and the spiritually hungry, as well-heeled professionals find communion breaking bread with the homeless.

“We’re not a service-providing ministry, but a congregation of relationships,” explained the Rev. Brian Combs. Rich and poor, black and white, homeless and homeowners — all are welcome and equal at Haywood Street, where heart-felt hugs were more common than handshakes.

The holiday falling on a Wednesday was an extra ingredient as volunteers sported Santa hats and many of the homeless received gift bags and scarves. With three separate seatings, the church kitchen served up turkey and ham, squash and green beans, mac and cheese and ambrosia to more than 250 people.

Kaley Cross, 15, had been collecting pieces of fleece since August. On Wednesday, she circulated around the tables, handing out homemade scarves, some 400 of them, each tied with a red ribbon. “We wanted to make sure that no one felt left out, that everyone feels love and warm today,” she said.

“We talk about evangelism without words,” Combs said. The congregation has to gently remind outside churches and youth groups who want to volunteer to “fix the poor people.”

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“We don’t get into ‘us’ and ‘them,’” Combs said. “Jesus hung out with the lepers and the prostitutes, with the outcasts of his day. We can learn a lesson there.”

Too often stigmatized, the homeless are people just like anybody else, said Michael DeLude, who has experienced homelessness firsthand.

“You hear about 1st century Christianity, but it’s something I’ve actually experienced here,” said DeLude, who attends the dinners regularly. “These are people who wouldn’t normally mix, but we each have a gift to teach each other.”

During the service in the sanctuary upstairs, Combs discussed the miracle of the Christmas story found in Luke — that angels announcing the birth of a Savior had appeared not to the rich, but to shepherds, essentially homeless people living in the fields.

Organ music alternated between sacred and secular with “Joy to the World” followed by “Jingle Bells.” When time came for the communion and the blessing of the bread and wine, all participated, and even a costumed Santa Claus joined in giving the communion.